Looking for something to help you end 2013 on a high and happy note? Try The Dragontree Spa's Full Bliss Immersion, a three-hour treatment that touches on all four major Ayurvedic bliss treatments. It includes a warm oil massage, exfoliation, a steam-tent treatment and more, starting at $225.

Even the Dragontree's entrance way and waiting room can have a calming effect on patrons.
(Paul Aiken/Daily Camera)

(That's why we're still married.) But a few days ago, while "just running into Walmart" (2½ hours later) to get a can of spray paint for an art project, a real live, belligerent, old, methy Person Of Walmart nearly bulldozed over our 3-year-old daughter while cursing at the man behind the paint counter as if they were in a WWE wrestling ring.

My husband rather likes our kid a lot, and he also prefers her not smashed into a wall of tools and crying. So he calmly suggested that this Nacho Libre please not spray his f-bombs all over our daughter's face. To which this fool responded, "Make me."

Who says that?

A 6-year-old, that's who.

Make me. Turns out, those two words are my husband's kryptonite.

Thank baby Jesus, at this moment, our strong-survival-instinct daughter blurted out, "Daddy, his breath smells bad." And my husband was able to return to his head and not, in fact, make him. They left the store in shock.

Something happens to the nation this time of year, and it is not jolly. People attack each other over Black Friday bargains, they race from store to party to store in a completely optional, self-imposed panic attack. As soon as I swallowed my pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, I swear I felt the air around me grow cold and angry.

Luckily I have my husband's patience and my daughter's awkward bluntness to keep me grounded as the nation goes mad in final stretch of 2013.

Luckily I found a pocket of escape, too.

The massage room at The Dragontree Spa might be the spot to ease your nerves.
(Paul Aiken/Daily Camera)

The Dragontree Spa, 1521 Pearl St. in Boulder, is ethereal, with essential oils in the air, the sound of bubbling fountains, dim lighting, flickering candles and rich, warm colors. Walking down the long hallway, past the six treatment rooms, feels like another country and time period.

And in a way, it is.

This unique spa not only offers the standard ways to spoil yourself, such as facials and massage, but it also incorporates ancient Ayurvedic treatments and acupuncture. Find tinctures in the apothecary. Supplement your spa treatments with Chinese herbal and nutritional consultation. Get a foot bath in the Sangha Room with a group of friends. Lie down for a Shirodhara treatment, with a stream of warm herb-infused oil slowly poured into your forehead to induce peace.

In fact, that's Dragontree's mission: peace.

This isn't just a place to go for a facial so you look younger (although you should definitely check out the three different skin-care lines, including Epicuren, which is used in many of the facials). The goal is create a sanctuary to escape the stress that degrades our quality of life, says owner Briana Borten.

Borten, who has a background in massage therapy and Ayurveda, opened the first Dragontree Spa in Portland in 2003 and a second at Portland's airport in 2010. She and her husband, an acupuncturist, recently moved to Boulder and opened a third branch in July, with the management help of her cousin, Charity Goetz, of Boulder.

Borten says she believes in helping to create a more peaceful world by being more peaceful in the world. Massages go deeper than the muscles, she says. After a Swedish massage, your body releases the happy hormones of dopamine and serotonin.

"A massage literally makes you happier," Borten says.

She aims to teach others how to relax in the body, mind and spirit so they know how to care for their bodies, even after they leave.

"So they can go to their communities and friends and families and everyone they touch, and treat them well," Borten says.

In that, the spa doesn't just interact with the one person who comes in but also with everyone that person interacts with.

Which is an interesting philosophy on customer service and public interactions. Kind of the AntiPeopleOfWalmart.com.

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